This research aims to examine current practices in gifted and talented educator professional learning, as well as teacher attitudes, beliefs, and experiences towards gifted education in order to explore opportunities to further develop and improve professional learning structures. Through a qualitative methodology following the…

Career-connected learning is an educational strategy that combines high-quality academic instruction, skill-based learning, and real-world experiences to prepare students with the knowledge and skills that they need to pursue their career goals. Career-connected learning is especially important for an often-overlooked group of students including…

The report provides a landscape analysis of the workforce development environment in Texas. Many organizations are performing valuable roles in ensuring that the labor markets in Texas operate efficiently, supplying employers with skilled workers and providing workers with opportunities to continue their career advancement through reskilling. The…

The path to becoming a school principal is characterized by a variety of trajectories that reflect the diverse experiences and backgrounds of aspiring leaders. While ideally the road to the principalship would result in a proportional and representative body of principals, research has shown this is rarely the case. To gain a better understanding…

In this report, AIR shares an exploratory analysis of how the past and present experiences of adult learners of color shape their perceptions of college and decisions they make. Existing research highlights some common motivations, strengths, and barriers for adult learners (see, e.g., Patterson, 2018); however, it does not deeply explore the full…

Mid-life adults between the ages of 35 and 65 face many challenges when managing a career transition, including effective training, learning strategies, and acclimatization in a rapidly changing technological world. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effectiveness of career development learning strategies of mid-life adults going through a…

This narrative inquiry captures the stories of three newly-hired professors struggling to assimilate into Metro Community College's social environment. My work first presents Samantha's metaphor: a sandbox campus wherein employees work in isolation, building individual sandcastles. This metaphor evokes an imaginative way to interpret and…

The Leadership Pathways Project was created out of a need to learn directly from home visitors of color about the successes, barriers, and strategies that this vital component of the workforce incurs when striving for leadership opportunities. There is a current and much needed focus on home visitor workforce well-being, and numerous academic…

Schools are dynamic environments surrounded by static brick and mortar. Schools are a complex entanglement of systems clinging to normalcy led and composed of individuals seeking growth and progress. There is constant turnover as students move through the systems, gaining mastery, seeking support, and receiving guidance. Employees similarly move…

The literature indicates that some recent graduates of US colleges and universities are having difficulty obtaining jobs that satisfy salary and work environment expectations. While industries differ in focus, employers are similar with what they want in recently graduated individuals beginning their first full time job. Furthermore, the…

Demographic changes among the Latina population across the United States depict evidence that there is a need to develop current principals to become administrative leaders at the central office leadership level. These leaders would in turn represent the rapidly changing population. This study aims to understand the career pathway that Latina…

We interviewed racially/ethnically diverse, early career public relations practitioners. By asking participants to reflect on their collegiate social and educational development, we unearth contributing factors to these individuals' success both in college and in their professions to date. Respondents desired much more in-school training and…

Teacher shortages increase yearly while interest in the teaching profession seems to be at an all-time low. Policymakers are again seeing value in high school "grow your own" (GYO) teacher programs as a source of future teacher talent. Against the backdrop of career development models for teaching, we developed an instrument based on…

Roles such as principal and superintendent are politically positioned to affect policy and are seen as a steppingstone to the school district administration. In the United States of America, Black women are few in leadership positions. In the 2019-2020 school year there were approximately 1,662 public high school principals in the State of Texas…

The Expanding the Network of STEM Scholars through the ADVANCE Women of Color Writing Retreat has become a model for knowledge sharing and intervention adaptation in the areas of scholarly productivity and faculty development. This multi-institutional network reveals the complexity of supporting scholarly productivity for women at minority serving…